Whadya mean, no OpenGL support? Most games have an option - OpenGL or DirectX. And I mainly end up using OpenGL since 3dfx provides better OpenGL support than it does DirectX, so my Voodoo3 runs better with OpenGL.
The problem Linux has is that it lacks something similar to DirectX. DirectX may be a pain in the ass to use (I've used it before, so can speak from some experience), but it solves a problem which Linux doesn't seem to have support for.
But does Linux have similar libraries like DirectX? Not that I'm aware of, if someone knows differently, I'm interested. Keep in mind, DirectX is NOT just video - DirectDraw covers video, there's a lot more to DirectX. You still need sound libraries, input libraries (for joystick/mouse/keyboard), networking libraries - wait, that Linux does have these and they're better than DirectPlay - moving along, other things which are required for the gaming experience.
And these libraries would need to be FAST - and I have a feeling that they probably shouldn't be going through an X server at all. I don't know, what is the overhead of using X as opposed to using a direct-to-hardware library? Or is X used on a local machine direct-to-hardware? Like I said, I'm not sure. And again, this brings up control issues - I'm not sure exactly how keyboard and mouse control can be used through X, I've never really looked into it.
The final point is that such a library would need vendor drivers (either written by the vendor or open specs to be written by others). And this could be the real stumbling block.
I don't remember any of those... but my highschool years were 1994-1999 (jr/sr highschool - that's 7 to 12th). But I do remember when I first caught on to why WLVI was Channel 56...
Pretty sure it was always Disney - I think I remember when it premiered on what would become the Boston area UPN station (Channel 38, I don't remember it's letters).
I've watched ONE episode - I really can't say much about it. Looked cool (I liked the lead-in) and it has a definate anime style to it. Actually, I think I also caught part of the pilot, the part where the main villian is "born" if you will.
(I have no TV - I'm a little outta touch with more recent stuff... but I'm on a LAN with a T1 connection!)
Yeah, it was, but I only got to see a couple of episodes. And I liked it for basically the same reasons I liked Batman, although Gargoyle's plot was more consistant and IMHO better. Really good for a Disney cartoon. Interesting premise, good animation and voice acting. Wish I could have caught more of it, but oh well.
Yeah, the original Batman had the opening music and animation perfectly timed. Then some time they changed the opening but not the music, and the new combination of video and audio was just really dumb. They've also changed artists when it became the Adventures of Batman and Superman or whatever.
I never really liked Tiny Toons or Freakazoid, but Animanics was awesome (especially 'cause it was on Fox originally and they had some pretty good Fox exec jokes in it). Pinky and the Brain was definately cool, they actually spinned it off for a while until they decided to add Elmira (sp?) from Tiny Toons in - that sucked.
I haven't had a chance to watch Futurama recently, but I liked the earlier episodes. Matt Groening is quite good at what he does!
I dunno about the "moral of the story" bit though - I liked Batman because there was some more substance to it. The characters had relationships which evolved (sorta) through the episodes. (One of the reasons I like Babylon 5 over anything Star Trek, but that's not animation.)
How about this - just before I start playing, I go and zip up all my cheating tools. (Or even better, have them on a floppy which I then remove.) They can't tell if I have them anymore. If it was a simple matter of scanning Windows registry or checking for errors in binaries related to the game, then people wouldn't mind so much. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if they did scan users hard drives, it really wouldn't prevent cheating anyway.
They aren't really bringing the servers down just to prevent script kiddies, instead, they need an excuse to upgrade the system and can't do it with the servers running. So instead of explaining that they need to bring the servers down to play Quake on them, they instead are saying that they are doing it as a move to stop script kiddies!
They aren't really bringing the servers down just to prevent script kiddies, instead, they need an excuse to upgrade the system and can't do it with the servers running. So instead of explaining that they need to bring the servers down to play Quake on them, they instead are saying that they are doing it as a move to stop script kiddies!
Logical structure? MFC barely has *any* structure. It is a poorly designed, unstructured, non-standards complying disgrace. Often, you are forced to use the raw API because MFC can't cut it. As a framework, it's a disgrace.
For that and other reasons, Microsoft has actually deprectated MFC. I think you're supposed to use ATL (Active Template Library) now. It's never a good idea to base something on a Microsoft standard - they like changing them out from under you... (at least it feels like it to me...)
I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but they orginally were planning on keeping the US numbers in since, as they did for both FFII and FFIII which were actually the fourth and sixth Final Fantasy game respectively. There was SO much hype about "Final Fantasy VII" before it was ready to be released in the US that they couldn't call it Final Fantasy IV anymore - it would confuse customers.
As for Anthology, it's already out in the US and persumably Europe, but playing Super Nintendo games on a PlayStation isn't much fun - SNES had minimal load times, the PlayStation has a 4X CD-ROM drive... (And the only never-before-released-in-the-US game was Final Fantasy V, which features a job system sorta similar to Final Fantasy Tatics.)
All this stuff about downloading MP3s and the right to use Napster/Gnutella reminds me of a time I was IMing someone I know from highschool who was rather new to computers and MP3s and the internet in general.
We got to talking about listening to MP3s and somehow got to the point where she actually said "I thought all MP3s were illegal." I think that actually summerizes the issue quite well - most MP3s that people have are indeed illegal.
As I recall, Microsoft in most case simply required that IE be featured on the desktop. OEM's were always free to make Netscape an option. And even if they didn't, so what? The "obvious option" is called a modem. And it's laughable to say that IE was "crammed down users' throats." This is similar to saying cereal companies cram the little toy at the bottom of the package down kids' throats. Microsoft gave away IE *for free.* How can that do anything but help consumers?
Have you ever TRIED downloading Netscape through a modem? Thanks to AOL bloat, it takes about two hours... my ISP has a tendancy to lose the connection after 30mins (grr), so this means I'm stuck with IE. Also, most companies (and people) think "I've already GOT a web browser, why try another?"
Netscape is still being actively developed, so if the goal was to drive them out of business it obviously didn't happen. What's the problem?
It's ONLY being actively developed because they were bought by AOL for whatever reason - Netscape as a single company no longer exists. They were forced to sell their buisness due to preditory attacks by Microsoft - or they were forced to sell because Microsoft had the superior product. Take your pick. (I still use Netscape, even on Win32; in fact, where I work, Netscape is the standard, both for browser and e-mail (both client and server) No IE at all!) Oh, and that's really Mozilla being developed, but that's a whole other can of worms.
There are two other things to keep in mind. First, Netscape certainly doesn't look like it was hurt all that much by Microsoft's tactics. Its stockholders are now proud owners of AOL and Sun stock, and certainly better off than they were when they started. And the supposed purpose of antitrust law is to protect consumers, not competitors.
As stated above, Netscape was almost driven out of buisness - they were only "saved" by AOL - take that as you will. Also, if MS "wins" in the end, there is no longer any reason for them to innovate any more - there would be no compotetion left, and that would hurt consumers in the end. That's what anti-trust laws are designed to prevent.
To be perfectly fair to the Slashdot guys, in theory they were posting what was sent to them, and when bulldog sent it he must not have read it all the way through...
Or (for those who were at the Geek Pride Festival when Rob Malda, aka CmdrTaco, spoke) the people at Slashdot are just lazy and only read the first paragraph. At least that's true for Rob...
Looks like somebody is upset 'cuz they lost out on buying stock for $200 a share before it dropped to $80. Yeah, you usually buy before it goes up and sell before it goes down. Don't blame the company.
Well, someone has to buy the stocks when they're high, otherwise you can't sell them and their price goes down... That just means he helped someone get some good IPO money!
Nah, all you need is a paperclip and you can screw up floppies on Macs too...
Besides, how many times have you shut off one machine and realized that there was a CD in the CD-ROM drive that you need for a different machine? (Or better, what I've done twice now - upgraded the CD-ROM drive and neglect to first remove the CD...)
Also, on PC's, where often the BIOS is set up to boot off floppy then harddrives, it can be very annoying if you can't eject the disk until after the boot process...
I honestly can't remember whether or not I had to be told how to eject a floppy from a Mac though... I never would have guessed dumping in the trash can though!
There's a port of Windows NT for the Alpha, which up until recently was maintained by Compaq. It got cancled when they realized that NT made up something like less than 10% of their market and so now they stick with some form of Unix (I'd assume Compaq True64).
Slashdot Mirror
Whadya mean, no OpenGL support? Most games have an option - OpenGL or DirectX. And I mainly end up using OpenGL since 3dfx provides better OpenGL support than it does DirectX, so my Voodoo3 runs better with OpenGL.
But does Linux have similar libraries like DirectX? Not that I'm aware of, if someone knows differently, I'm interested. Keep in mind, DirectX is NOT just video - DirectDraw covers video, there's a lot more to DirectX. You still need sound libraries, input libraries (for joystick/mouse/keyboard), networking libraries - wait, that Linux does have these and they're better than DirectPlay - moving along, other things which are required for the gaming experience.
And these libraries would need to be FAST - and I have a feeling that they probably shouldn't be going through an X server at all. I don't know, what is the overhead of using X as opposed to using a direct-to-hardware library? Or is X used on a local machine direct-to-hardware? Like I said, I'm not sure. And again, this brings up control issues - I'm not sure exactly how keyboard and mouse control can be used through X, I've never really looked into it.
The final point is that such a library would need vendor drivers (either written by the vendor or open specs to be written by others). And this could be the real stumbling block.
I don't remember any of those... but my highschool years were 1994-1999 (jr/sr highschool - that's 7 to 12th). But I do remember when I first caught on to why WLVI was Channel 56...
Pretty sure it was always Disney - I think I remember when it premiered on what would become the Boston area UPN station (Channel 38, I don't remember it's letters).
(I have no TV - I'm a little outta touch with more recent stuff... but I'm on a LAN with a T1 connection!)
Yeah, it was, but I only got to see a couple of episodes. And I liked it for basically the same reasons I liked Batman, although Gargoyle's plot was more consistant and IMHO better. Really good for a Disney cartoon. Interesting premise, good animation and voice acting. Wish I could have caught more of it, but oh well.
Wow, that threat worked! You were moderated up! A moderator must live near you :)
I never really liked Tiny Toons or Freakazoid, but Animanics was awesome (especially 'cause it was on Fox originally and they had some pretty good Fox exec jokes in it). Pinky and the Brain was definately cool, they actually spinned it off for a while until they decided to add Elmira (sp?) from Tiny Toons in - that sucked.
I haven't had a chance to watch Futurama recently, but I liked the earlier episodes. Matt Groening is quite good at what he does!
I dunno about the "moral of the story" bit though - I liked Batman because there was some more substance to it. The characters had relationships which evolved (sorta) through the episodes. (One of the reasons I like Babylon 5 over anything Star Trek, but that's not animation.)
Yeah, now I'm rambling too. I'll stop.
How about this - just before I start playing, I go and zip up all my cheating tools. (Or even better, have them on a floppy which I then remove.) They can't tell if I have them anymore. If it was a simple matter of scanning Windows registry or checking for errors in binaries related to the game, then people wouldn't mind so much. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if they did scan users hard drives, it really wouldn't prevent cheating anyway.
That's weird, it got posted twice... I wonder if it's because I was using Netscape 6? Or maybe some slashdot bug? Whatever.
They aren't really bringing the servers down just to prevent script kiddies, instead, they need an excuse to upgrade the system and can't do it with the servers running. So instead of explaining that they need to bring the servers down to play Quake on them, they instead are saying that they are doing it as a move to stop script kiddies!
They aren't really bringing the servers down just to prevent script kiddies, instead, they need an excuse to upgrade the system and can't do it with the servers running. So instead of explaining that they need to bring the servers down to play Quake on them, they instead are saying that they are doing it as a move to stop script kiddies!
For that and other reasons, Microsoft has actually deprectated MFC. I think you're supposed to use ATL (Active Template Library) now. It's never a good idea to base something on a Microsoft standard - they like changing them out from under you... (at least it feels like it to me...)
As for Anthology, it's already out in the US and persumably Europe, but playing Super Nintendo games on a PlayStation isn't much fun - SNES had minimal load times, the PlayStation has a 4X CD-ROM drive... (And the only never-before-released-in-the-US game was Final Fantasy V, which features a job system sorta similar to Final Fantasy Tatics.)
We got to talking about listening to MP3s and somehow got to the point where she actually said "I thought all MP3s were illegal." I think that actually summerizes the issue quite well - most MP3s that people have are indeed illegal.
Have you ever TRIED downloading Netscape through a modem? Thanks to AOL bloat, it takes about two hours... my ISP has a tendancy to lose the connection after 30mins (grr), so this means I'm stuck with IE. Also, most companies (and people) think "I've already GOT a web browser, why try another?"
Netscape is still being actively developed, so if the goal was to drive them out of business it obviously didn't happen. What's the problem?
It's ONLY being actively developed because they were bought by AOL for whatever reason - Netscape as a single company no longer exists. They were forced to sell their buisness due to preditory attacks by Microsoft - or they were forced to sell because Microsoft had the superior product. Take your pick. (I still use Netscape, even on Win32; in fact, where I work, Netscape is the standard, both for browser and e-mail (both client and server) No IE at all!) Oh, and that's really Mozilla being developed, but that's a whole other can of worms.
There are two other things to keep in mind. First, Netscape certainly doesn't look like it was hurt all that much by Microsoft's tactics. Its stockholders are now proud owners of AOL and Sun stock, and certainly better off than they were when they started. And the supposed purpose of antitrust law is to protect consumers, not competitors.
As stated above, Netscape was almost driven out of buisness - they were only "saved" by AOL - take that as you will. Also, if MS "wins" in the end, there is no longer any reason for them to innovate any more - there would be no compotetion left, and that would hurt consumers in the end. That's what anti-trust laws are designed to prevent.
Oops. Sorry. I'm lazy too :)
Or (for those who were at the Geek Pride Festival when Rob Malda, aka CmdrTaco, spoke) the people at Slashdot are just lazy and only read the first paragraph. At least that's true for Rob...
It reads:
:)
sendmoneyto_xeno_
or
Send money to _xeno_.
Too bad I don't include my e-mail address
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $i;
for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) {
print "Oh, get a life. ";
}
Well, someone has to buy the stocks when they're high, otherwise you can't sell them and their price goes down... That just means he helped someone get some good IPO money!
Nah, all you need is a paperclip and you can screw up floppies on Macs too...
Besides, how many times have you shut off one machine and realized that there was a CD in the CD-ROM drive that you need for a different machine? (Or better, what I've done twice now - upgraded the CD-ROM drive and neglect to first remove the CD...)
Also, on PC's, where often the BIOS is set up to boot off floppy then harddrives, it can be very annoying if you can't eject the disk until after the boot process...
I honestly can't remember whether or not I had to be told how to eject a floppy from a Mac though... I never would have guessed dumping in the trash can though!
There's a port of Windows NT for the Alpha, which up until recently was maintained by Compaq. It got cancled when they realized that NT made up something like less than 10% of their market and so now they stick with some form of Unix (I'd assume Compaq True64).
Those are no longer worth anything since a grue ate the last remaining Flathead thereby ending the Flathead dynasty :).
Maybe someone should hold a contest to determine what W.A.V.E. should really stand for... hmm... (How about Weapons And Violence Everywhere? Nah.)